Developing Economic Research to Support U.S. Fossil-Fuel Dependent Communities

The U.S. is the world’s largest producer of oil and gas and the third largest producer of coal. To successfully transform our energy system, U.S. communities along the fossil fuel value chain will need to build economic resilience to prepare for a green transition. There is currently a gap in economic research on this topic, and local, state, and federal policymakers lack the knowledge necessary to develop diversification strategies that support the economies of fossil-fuel dependent communities.

The Bezos Earth Fund is a founding partner of the Resilient Energy Economies (REE) initiative, whose goal is to provide U.S. economic policymakers with the information and new thinking necessary to support communities along the fossil fuel value chain build economic resilience. To grow this nascent research community, the initiative is providing financial support for local economic research projects while connecting new researchers with leading scholars already working in the field. This project is increasing the quantity and quality of economic analysis and disseminating recommendations to policymakers for local implementation.